Tuesday, September 22, 2015

The onion (Allium cepa) (Latin 'cepa' = onion), also known as the bulb
onion or common onion, is used as a vegetable and is the most widely cultivated
species of the genus Allium.

Onions generally
make people cry : As onions are
sliced, cells are broken open. Onion cells have two sections, one with enzymes
called alliinases, the other with sulfides (amino acid sulfoxides). The enzymes
break down the sulfides and generate sulfenic acids. Sulfenic acid is unstable and
decomposes into a volatile gas which dissipates through the air and eventually
reaches one's eye, where it will react with the water to form a mild solution
of sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid irritates the nerve endings in the eyes,
making them sting. The tear glands then produce tears in response to this
irritation, to dilute and flush out the irritant.

It was not that
property of Onions that made Indians cry …. ~ but it was that of its spiralling
increase in prices that often does… a couple of years ago, it reached 100 +
making middle-class cry… it was not restricted to the price of onions, they
also pushed up inflation up; it caused a change of Govt in Delhi too,
politically affecting the fortune of parties in some States.

At a time when
onions became the butt of cartoons, Groupon India, home of India’s biggest
discounts and best deals online- offered something totally unrealistic and
unbelievable. Around 2011, when onion prices sky-rocketed,
the firm sought to boost its popularity by offering a mouth-watering deal by
pricing it at Rs 9 a kilo. That was available to limited no. of buyers made
their website quite a hit.

Supply and demand
is perhaps one of the most fundamental concepts of economics and it is the
backbone of a market economy. Supply represents how much the market can offer.
The quantity supplied refers to the amount of a certain good producers are
willing to supply when receiving a certain price. The correlation between price
and how much of a good or service is supplied to the market is known as the
supply relationship. Price, therefore, is a reflection of supply and demand.
~that is sound Economic theory, not when there is hoarding, supply getting
artificially restricted and hoarders cashing in ! It is always easier to attack the policies of
the Govt and tougher when actually managing it ………..and here is a report from
MailOnline on ‘Onions and AAP’ :

The
AamAadmi Party (AAP) government’s claim that it purchases onions at Rs 40 a kg
and sells these to you at Rs 30 a kg has turned out to be a farce.The AAP
government, which came to power on the promise of eradicating corruption, has
procured onions at a much cheaper price of Rs 18 a kg and sold these to
Delhiites at Rs 30 a kg, according to RTI replies. The move, the RTI replies
state, is in stark contrast to the Cabinet decision that the government will
sell onions at a no-profit-no-loss basis in the Capital.

The
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (Nafed)
has alleged that there is a huge difference between the procurement cost and
the price at which the AAP government sold onions to Delhiites. The Delhi
government, however, ruled out any financial bungling on its part. “If there is
any irregularity, it is on part of the central government agencies Small Farmer
Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) and Nafed. The actual procurement cost is Rs
32.86 per kg. "Owing to transportation and labour expenses, it shot up to
Rs 40 per kg. The AAP government then decided to subsidise the onion price by
another Rs 10 per kg and decided to sell them at Rs 30 per kg,” Delhi’s Food
and Supplies Minister Asim Ahmed Khan told Mail Today.

He
alleged that Nafed was politicising the issue even when it supplied onions at
high prices to Mother Dairy and Safal. RTI replies provided by the Delhi
government’s Department of Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs, however, present
a different picture. The RTI documents accessed by Mail Today revealed that the
government had purchased 2,511 metric tonnes (25,11,000kgs) of onions through
SFAC at an average price of Rs 18.57 per kg, which also includes cess and other
local expenses. The purchases were made from various markets of Nashik in
Maharashtra and Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

However,
when the onion crisis aggravated in the Capital, the government on August 5
decided to sell onions at a no-profit-no-loss basis through its vans. The
government had also declared that Rs 32.86 per kg as the procurement cost and
Rs 7 per kg as the amount of additional surcharge, transportation cost and
other local expenses. The Delhi Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister
ArvindKejriwal then decided to subsidise the price by Rs 10 per kg and sold
onions at Rs 30 per kg. The RTI documents also revealed that the government
failed to supply adequate quantity of onions despite having a buffer stock of
5,000 metric tonnes.

The
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (Nafed)
has alleged that there is a huge difference between the procurement cost and
the price at which the AAP government sold onions to Delhiites. This, according
to Nafed, essentially kept the onion prices high even though the government had
abundant stock of the multi-layered vegetable. According to RTI replies, the
Kejriwal government began the sale of onions on August 10. However, it could
only sell 575.32 metric tonnes of onions till September 2. This means that more
than 4,400 metric tonnes of onions remained stashed in godowns while Delhiites
were reeling under surging prices of the vegetable.

The
price of onion skyrocketed to Rs 80 a kg in August and despite the government’s
assurances the price never came down below Rs 60-per-kg mark. “There is a huge
profit margin in the onion sale. The Delhi government did not supply adequate
quantity of onions to the market. Had it had done that the prices could have
come down. The AAP government must reveal where the profit margin has gone,”
said Ashok Thakur, director, Nafed. He pointed out that the Delhi government
had earlier refused to purchase onions even though Nafed wrote to it
repeatedly.

This,
he said, led to hoarding of onions and prices went excessively high. The BJP
said it is the first major scam in the seven-month-rule of AAP in Delhi. Senior
BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta sought
a thorough probe into the matter. He said it is a clear case of financial
bungling. “The AAP government has not only resorted to financial irregularity,
but also misled the people of Delhi by promising subsidy on onion prices. It is
a shameful act. "The government sought to befool the public by earning
profit by selling onions. Where has the money gone? It needs to be
investigated,” Gupta said.

The
Kejriwal government ignored repeated alerts by Nafed to stock sufficient
quantity of pulses and other eatables so as to meet the requirement in case of
short supply. And all this happened at a time the Delhi government faced
criticism for not procuring onions that resulted in cost escalation. An RTI
reply by the food and supplies department of Delhi government said it has not
purchased pulses or any other grain and eatable products. The Nafed, which is a
Central Government agency, wrote four letters to Delhi government from April to
June but the government chose to ignore them. “Nafed offered arhar dal at Rs 54
per kg and chana dal at Rs 38 per kg. Despite four requests, the AAP government
did not buzz. "As a result Delhiites are forced to buy arhar dal at Rs 150
per kg and chana dal at Rs 70 to Rs 80 a kilo,” said Nafed Director Ashok
Thakur. The letters, copies of which are in possession of Mail Today, were
written on April 8, May 1, June 5 and June 30. However, there was no reply from
the Delhi government.

Thakur
alleged that non-procurement of commodities by the government resulted in
hoarding by traders and black marketers as a result of which price of grains
skyrocketed.

Lot of confusion ….
Onions do make people cry !

With regards – S.
Sampathkumar

21st
Sept. 2o15

[A joke : Culinary Expert to newly wed
woman: – you will not cry, if you cut
onions under water